Government

New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, accompanied by Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., last week announced a $1.75 million state award for the Montauk Playhouse Community Center, where ground was broken last summer for its new aquatic center.

Five Democrats and five Republicans are facing off for the five Southampton Town Trustee seats, while Theresa Kiernan, the incumbent, and David Glazer are the candidates for tax receiver.

For those who find a sample ballot useful before they head to the polls, here is what the front and back of the ballot looks like in East Hampton Town. 

East Hampton Town Hall's meeting room was standing room only on Thursday afternoon, and despite intense community pressure that nearly brought the chairwoman of the town's architectural review board to tears, the board voted 3-to-1 to deny an application by Rowdy Hall to paint the façade of its new location on Amagansett's Main Street black.

The four candidates vying for two seats on the East Hampton Town Board agreed on some issues and differed on others in an Oct. 18 debate hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and North Fork.

This winter, the East Hampton Village Department of Public Works plans to shift hedgerows and remove a chain-link fence that separates a parcel at 8 Muchmore Lane from the neighboring Herrick Park. When the work is complete, village officials said, it will have the effect of making the park appear larger, as the lot has been hidden from view and inaccessible.

The East Hampton Town Trustees heard recommendations from a subcommittee Monday confirming their understanding that there are noncompliant structures in trustee waters that will have to be brought into compliance or removed, and that in some instances previously issued permits could be revoked.

Seven of the nine incumbent East Hampton Town Trustees, six of them Democrats and one a Republican with Democratic cross-endorsement, are seeking re-election on Nov. 7. Altogether, there are 12 people running for the nine seats, including three Republican challengers, one Democrat, and one other cross-endorsed candidate.

Elected officials, utility contractors, and other interested parties will gather to celebrate the completion of a project to bury utility lines and remove utility poles at the “Montauk Gateway,” in front of 589 Montauk Highway, on Monday at 10 a.m. The public has been invited to attend.

Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the Democratic and Working Families Party candidate, and a sitting town councilwoman, is facing Gretta Leon, the Republican and Conservative Party candidate and a newcomer to town politics, in the 2023 race for the East Hampton Town supervisor's seat.

Suffolk County officials have delayed a plan to introduce an on-demand bus service zone to replace two East Hampton-area buses, the 10B and 10C, because of a manufacturer’s recall of the buses themselves.

Wastewater management, renewable energy, housing, traffic, and migrants were among the topics addressed in Monday’s debate between candidates for the Suffolk County Legislature’s Second District, hosted by the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork. Manny Vilar of Springs, the chairman of the East Hampton Town Republican Committee and a retired state parks police officer, is the Republican candidate. His Democratic opponent is Ann Welker, a Southampton Town trustee.